Tyseley plans triple ‘Castle’ dream with Defiant return

TYSELEY’S dormant ‘Castle’ Defiant will be returned to steam in an ambitious £1million public sponsored project – to complete a unique in-house collection of three main line-registered locomotives from a single class.

Defiant will be put through the Birmingham works once sufficient money has been raised to kick-start the project, with the intention of its operating arm – Vintage Trains (VT) – being able to always field a ‘Castle’ for its excursions.

Defiant in steam at Tyseley on November 27, 1992. It will return to the works this winter as the first step of its long-awaited return to working order. ROBIN STEWART-SMITH

Tyseley chairman Michael Whitehouse explained that the choice of Defiant over rival LMS 4-6-0 No. 5593 Kolhapur is partly to strengthen VT’s Great Western and Western Region brand, which extends from its chocolate & cream coaching stock to the locomotive at the head of the train.

“Defiant will haul express trains at speed on original sections of the Great Western Railway main lines. What is more authentic than that?”, he added.

Read more in October’s edition of The RM

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